


The Desert Wolf

by goddessofcruelty



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Callous disregard for human life, Canon-Typical Violence, Coyote Claudia Stilinski, Gen, Kate is the one who dies, Not Canon Compliant, Post Episode: s04e12 Smoke & Mirrors, References to Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-10
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2018-02-16 21:31:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2285142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddessofcruelty/pseuds/goddessofcruelty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the mysterious coyote was Claudia Stilinski?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> See end notes for explanation of relationships to clear up any confusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a rewrite of the original story, but in third person because I hate first person pov.

“The Desert Wolf.”

The voice is smug, oily in its fake charm, and it makes the woman with the long silky black hair feel the urge to claw the blond's eyes out. Instead, she leans back in her chair casually and lofts a brow.

“La Loba.”

Kate settles herself across from the coyotoe, all arrogance and craziness, and it's obvious she thinks she has the upper hand. The Desert Wolf can smell the Change on her, the jaguar spirit that inhabits her body now. Coyotes have much better noses than wolves.

“My father has been trying to get in touch.”

The last person on this earth that the woman wants to have a conversation with is Gerard Argent.

“I'm aware,” she admits to Kate, half-shrugging to let her know she doesn't much care.

“He'd love for you to visit him,” the blonde continues, oblivious, and the older woman has to resist the urge to slap her until Kate's out from under her father's thumb.

“You look like your mother,” the coyote says, changing the subject, and the Desert Wolf has to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smirking, as the barb hits home in a spectacular fashion. Kate pales and her smile grows so tight the coyote wonders if she's going to burst a blood vessel. It's obvious her father hasn't told her.

The Desert Wolf finishes her drink while she watches Kate struggle between completing the mission at hand... and asking about her mother. She's pleasantly surprised when the jaguar chooses the latter. Maybe there's hope for Kate Argent after all.

“You knew my mother? Was she – ” Kate cuts off as she recalls that she's in public. “– like us?”

The black haired woman nods once, trying not to laugh. Kate's mother was once the greatest of us. “Your mother was a shifter, and my best friend. We grew up together.” The coyote considers a moment, wonders how much to tell her. She wants to see Kate's face when she _realizes_ what she's done. But the coyote also wants her to go back and ask Gerard questions he doesn't want to answer.

In the end, the Desert Wolf splits the difference.

“Ask your father about your twin brother.”

Kate's face bleeds blue as her fury explodes, and she leaps across the table at the older woman.

-

The coyote leaves Kate by the side of the road nearby. The jaguar is slow and out of control, and the Desert Wolf has many friends. Kate never stood a chance.

The black haired woman heads out into the desert. She needs some time to herself. Coyotes are notoriously singular but the Desert Wolf is worst than most.

She's managed to avoid thinking about Beacon Hills for many years, but it seems that it's time to wallow in her bad life choices for a few days. The coyote holes up in her den and thinks about the first time she met Talia Hale.

-

_Claudia first met her John when he rescued her after being attacked and mauled by a coyote in the woods. He was a young deputy on the police force, and she fell for her hero instantly. Unfortunately, that coyote was more than he seemed, and she ended up being pulled out to the Hale Preserve by his call in the middle of a full moon. She still doesn't know why he chose there, but by the time she finally found him, he was nothing more than mangled buts of blood and fur, surrounded by a pack of wolves – and one human._

_Claudia remembers screaming, and she remember Rafael slapping her – hard. She must have blacked out after that, because the next memory she has is her sitting in a gorgeously appointed living room with Rafael and a woman who was obviously his sister._

“ _I'm so sorry about your sire,” she says softly, “We had no choice but to put him down.”_

“ _I don't understand,” Claudia says, “What is happening?”_

“ _You ever heard of a werewolf?” Rafael asks casually, as if they're discussing natural phenomena._

_-_

They had functioned as a unit, the two of them, for all that he was the only human member of the Hale wolf pack. They all expected that he would get the Bite once he was of age.

Talia was _devastated_ when he decided not to, and one of her very first actions as Alpha was to erase his memories of her and their family. He was never the same, either.

He had anger issues and his marriage with Melissa was stormy. Talia hated her, naturally, it was _her_ fault that Rafe chose to leave the fold. She never even took the time to meet their son.

Talia became bitter and very, very judgy. It strained the friendship between coyote and wolf almost to the point of breaking at times.

Of course, it wasn't Talia that ended up shattering our bond. That was all on Claudia.

-

“ _I cannot believe you slept with my SON.” Claudia would answer her, but Talia's clawed hands around the coyote's windpipe are kind of precluding her getting enough air._

“ _And_ you _have so much room to talk.”_

 _Claudia closes her eyes. Now is_ really _not the time for Peter to start with his mother._

_It works though, gets her to let Claudia go, to round on her eldest and start in on him. “You should know better than to get in bed with a coyote.”_

“ _Solitary, always leave, et cetera, et cetera, I've had the lecture.” He's all arrogance and sarcasm and brilliance wrapped in a pretty package, and he's_ incredible _. He's fire and excitement, and everything the coyote is missing with John. She loves Peter in her own way. Different than her husband but still just as real. Claudia is also_ very _aware that Peter_ doesn't _love her in return, he's got someone else, thought she never bothered to find out who._

“ _She wants a child,” he shrugs, “I gave her one.”_

_Talia shakes her head and whispers, “You idiot,” to the floor before she looks up at Peter. “You gave her two.”_

_Peter looks surprised. “How can you know that?”_

_Talia gives a long-suffering sigh. “Hale wolves always have twins.”_

_-_

Frequent practice made Talia an expert at erasing people's memories. It wasn't until much later, until the Desert Wolf met an old coyote who was well-versed in the art, that she recovered all of hers. By then it was too late.

Her husband had mourned her and moved on, Talia and her family had been massacred by her own daughter, and the coyote's daughter had vanished into the legal system. If she ever sees Talia in the afterlife, that woman will have a _lot_ to answer for.

The Desert Wolf used to wonder if Rafael hadn't left, if he had kept by her side, would Talia have become the paranoid, obsessive controlling Alpha that she turned into?

The coyote is distracted from rehashing her life by the scent of an Alpha male.

“Deuc!” she hops up and greets him warmly. He was a good friend until the whole post-blinding sordidness. They're getting back to a better place now, she thinks.

“I just wanted to thank you in person for saving my son.” She studies Deucalion's new eyes but they still give nothing away. Either Talia took his memories too or he never knew about Kate.

The coyote waves it off. “It was easy enough to arrange, and gets that little Ranger minx off my tail for a while.”

“Still, I do feel some obligation to the boy, would that his mother had let us know each other sooner.”

“Are you ever going to tell him?” She can't help but ask, insatiable curiosity is the Desert Wolf's biggest flaw.

“Not much point in it now,” he shrugs, “and I have little to offer.”

“The benefit of experience?”

“He can have that without the added trauma of having me for a father.”

The woman could argue but she has done much the same, not choosing to disrupt her son's life, or his twin sister's now that she's been found. The coyote simply nods.

“You know where to find me should you need anything else.”

He smiles, and clasps her hand. “Thank you, Claudia.”

-

When Kate returns, the coyote can see that Gerard's told her everything. At least everything that he knows. The Desert Wolf is certain Talia took things from him as well.

Kate is shaken, and the coyote can smell the illness on her. It's hard to face the world when everything you know has been shattered.

“I killed my family,” is how she greets the older woman, dully and resigned, but if she's come looking for comfort, she will not find it here.

“Some of them,” Claudia agrees, thinking it's time she moves to a new den because too many people can find her here. “Except for the brother you only partially killed, and the brother you slept with and then used to burn said family down.” The coyote places Laura on Kate's plate as well, since she drove Peter crazy enough to commit that act. Claudia keeps the fact that she's got an uncle and a cousin still very much alive to herself. She's not exactly sure what the jaguar would do with that information.

Kate stays with the coyote for a week, mostly silently thinking through everything that's brought her to this point. Or at least so Claudia assumes. Kate never says.

-

“I really need to move,” the Desert Wolf grumbles as she walks in to see Peter confronting Kate. She finds it interesting to note that they still smell nearly identical even after all these years. Claudia briefly wonders if that's how Kate managed to stay under Talia's radar.

Peter frowns at the coyote briefly, then goes back to tearing Kate's head from her neck. He doesn't stop until he completely severs it.

“You feel better now?” Claudia asks as he wanders outside to where the coyote is scaling fish.

“Much.” He smirks, and she can see the echos of the boy he was. “The Desert Wolf, I presume?”  
She finds herself to be disappointed that he doesn't recognize her. Claudia simply nods and lifts her catch.

“You like fish?”

He glances over his shoulder to the mess in the den, and then to her, unperturbed, fixing dinner.

“That didn't bother you?”

The Desert Wolf shrugs. “She killed my family.”

He crouches down and starts wrapping the scaled fish in the flat leaves. “But she was staying here.”

Claudia looks up into those beautiful eyes that hold no recognition. “She was family.”

Peter narrows his eyes. “Who _are_ you?”

Claudia doesn't get a chance to answer him, not that she actually would have, before Araya and her goon squad roll up.

Peter looks at the man who gets out with her, identical blue eyes from their father meeting across the distance, and then Peter vanishes into the desert. Claudia wonders if they know.

“Body's in there,” the coyote points, and goes on with cooking her meal.

They won't kill the coyote, Claudia hasn't broken their code, and Araya isn't crazy like her brother-in-law is. They simply take Kate away.

“We'll burn the body,” Araya promises and the Desert Wolf nods, stirring her fire.

The scent of baking fish fills the air as they drive away, and Claudia goes in to pack her meager things. She eats her meal under the open stars of the desert, hefts her pack and starts on her way.

It's been a while since Claudia's seen the ocean.

 

 


	2. First Person

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the story as originally posted, I just hate first person pov, so I spent some time rewriting it and made that one the first chapter.

“The Desert Wolf.” The voice is smug, oily in its fake charm, and I want to claw her eyes out. Instead, I lean back in my chair casually and loft a brow.

“La Loba.”

Kate settles herself across from me, all arrogance and craziness, obvious she thinks she has the upper hand. I can smell the Change on her, the jaguar spirit that inhabits her body now. Coyotes have much better noses than wolves.

“My father has been trying to get in touch.”

The last person on this earth that I want to have a conversation with is Gerard Argent. “I'm aware,” I admit to Kate, half-shrugging to let her know I don't much care.

“He'd love for you to visit him,” she continues, oblivious, and I resist the urge to slap her until she's out from under his thumb.

“You look like your mother,” I say, changing the subject, and I have to keep from smirking as the barb hits home in a spectacular fashion. She pales and her smile grows so tight I wonder if she's going to burst a blood vessel. It's obvious her father hasn't told her.

I finish my drink while I watch her struggle between completing the mission at hand and asking about her mother. I'm pleasantly surprised when she chooses the latter. Maybe there's hope for her after all.

“You knew my mother? Was she – ” Kate cuts off as she recalls that she's in public. “– like us?”

I nod once, trying not to laugh. She was once the greatest of us. “Your mother was a shifter, and my best friend when we were younger.” I consider a moment, how much to tell her. I want to see her face when she realizes what she's done, but I also want her to go back and ask Gerard questions he doesn't want to answer. In the end, I split the difference.

“Ask your father about your twin brother.”

Her face bleeds blue as her fury explodes, and she leaps across the table at me.

-

I leave Kate by the side of the road nearby. She's slow and out of control, and I have many friends. She never stood a chance.

I head into the desert. I need some time to myself. Coyotes are notoriously singular but I am worst than most.

I've managed to avoid thinking about Beacon Hills for many years, but it seems that I am to wallow in my bad life choices for a few days. I hole up in my den and think about the first time I met Talia Hale.

-

_I first met my John when he rescued me after being attacked and mauled by a coyote in the woods. He was a young deputy on the police force, and I fell for him instantly. Unfortunately, that coyote was more than he seemed, and I ended up being pulled out to the Hale Preserve by his call in the middle of a full moon. I still don't know why he chose there, but by the time I found him, he was nothing more than mangled buts of blood and fur, surrounded by a pack of wolves – and one human._

_I remember screaming, and I remember Rafael slapping me. I must have blacked out after that, because the next memory is me sitting in a gorgeously appointed living room with Rafael and a woman who was obviously his sister._

“ _I'm so sorry about your sire,” she says softly, “We had no choice but to put him down.”_

“ _I don't understand,” I say, “What is happening?”_

“ _You ever heard of a werewolf?” Rafael asks casually, as if we're discussing natural phenomena._

_-_

They had functioned as a unit, the two of them, for all that he was the only human member of the Hale wolf pack. Everyone expected that he would get the Bite once he was of age. Talia was devastated when he decided not to, and one of her very first actions as Alpha was to erase his memories of her and their family. I don't think he was ever the same either. He had anger issues and his marriage with Melissa was stormy. Talia hated her, naturally, it was _her_ fault that Rafe chose to leave the fold. She never even took the time to meet their son. Talia became bitter and very, very judgy. It strained our friendship almost to the point of breaking at times.

Of course, it wasn't her that ended up shattering our bond. That was all on me.

-

“ _I cannot believe you slept with my SON.” I would answer her, but her clawed hands around my windpipe are kind of precluding me getting enough air._

“ _And you have so much room to talk.”_ _I close my eyes. Now is really not the time for Peter to start with his mother._ _It works though, gets her to let me go, to round on her eldest and start in on him._

 _“_ _You should know better than to get in bed with a coyote.”_

“ _Solitary, always leave, et cetera, et cetera, I've had the lecture.” He's all arrogance and sarcasm and brilliance wrapped in a pretty package, and he's incredible. He's fire and excitement, and everything I am missing with John._

_I love him in my own way. Different than my husband but still just as real. Peter doesn't love me though, he's got someone else, though I've never bothered to find out who._

“ _She wants a child,” he shrugs, “I gave her one.”_

_Talia shakes her head and whispers, “You idiot,” to the floor before she looks up at Peter. “You gave her two.”_

_Peter looks surprised. “How can you know that?”_

_Talia gives a long-suffering sigh. “Hale wolves always have twins.”_

_-_

Talia got really good at erasing people's memories. It wasn't until much later, until I met an old coyote who was well-versed in the art, that I recovered all of mine.

By then it was too late. My husband had mourned me and moved on, Talia and her family had been massacred by her daughter, and my own daughter had vanished into the legal system. If I ever see Talia in the afterlife, she's going to have a lot to answer for.

I used to wonder if Rafael hasn't left, if he had kept by her side, would she have become the paranoid, obsessive controlling Alpha that she turned into?

I am distracted from rehashing my life by the scent of an Alpha male.

“Deuc,” I hop up and greet him warmly. He was a good friend until the whole post-blinding sordidness. We're getting back to a better place now, I think.

“I just wanted to thank you in person for saving my son.” I study Deucalion's new eyes but they still give nothing away. Either Talia took his memories too or he never knew about Kate.

I wave it off. “It was easy enough to arrange, and gets that little minx off my tail for a while.”

“Still, I do feel some obligation to the boy, would that his mother had let us know each other sooner.”

“Are you ever going to tell him?” I can't help but ask, insatiable curiosity is my biggest flaw.

“Not much point in it now,” he shrugs, “and I have little to offer.”

“The benefit of experience?”

“He can have that without the added trauma of having me for a father.”

I could argue but I had done much the same, not choosing to disrupt my son's life, or his twin sister's now that she's been found. I simply nod.

“You know where to find me should you need anything else.”

He smiles, and clasps my hand. “Thank you, Claudia.”

-

When Kate returns, I can see that Gerard's told her everything. At least everything that he knows. I'm certain Talia took things from him as well.

Kate is shaken, and I can smell the illness on her. It's hard to face the world when everything you know has been shattered.

“I killed my _family_ ,” is how she greets me, dully and resigned, but if she's come looking for comfort, she will not find it here.

“Some of them,” I agree, thinking it's time I move to a new den because too many people can find me here. “Except for the brother you only partially killed, and the brother you slept with, and then used to burn said family down.”

I place Laura on her plate as well, since she drove Peter crazy enough to commit that act. I keep the fact that she's got an uncle and a cousin still very much alive, to myself. I'm not sure what she'd do with that information.

Kate stays with me for a week, mostly silently thinking through everything that's brought her to this point.

Or at least so I assume. She never says.

-

“I really need to move,” I say as I walk in to see Peter confronting Kate. It's interesting to note that they still smell nearly identical even after all these years. I wonder if that's how she managed to stay under Talia's radar.

Peter frowns at me briefly, then goes back to tearing Kate's head from her neck. He doesn't stop until he completely severs it.

“You feel better now?” I ask as he wanders outside to where I'm scaling fish.

“Much.” he smirks, and I can see the echos of the boy he was. “The Desert Wolf, I presume?”

I find myself to be disappointed that he doesn't recognize me. I simply nod and lift my catch. “You like fish?”

He glances over his shoulder to the mess in the den, and then to me, unperturbed, fixing dinner. “That didn't bother you?”

I shrug. “She killed my family.”

He crouches down and starts wrapping the scaled fish in the flat leaves. “But she was staying here.”

I look up into those beautiful eyes that hold no recognition. “She was family.”

Peter narrows his eyes. “Who are you?”

I don't get a chance to answer him, not that I would have, before Araya and her goon squad roll up.

Peter looks at the man who gets out with her, identical blue eyes from their father meeting across the distance, and then Peter vanishes into the desert. I wonder if they know.

“Body's in there,” I point, and go on with cooking my meal.

They won't kill me, I haven't broken their code, and Araya isn't crazy like her brother-in-law is. They simply take Kate away.

“We'll burn the body,” Araya promises and I nod, starting my fire.

The scent of baking fish fills the air as they drive away, and I go in to pack my meager things. I finish my meal under the open stars of the desert, heft my pack and start on my way.

It's been a while since I've seen the ocean.

**Author's Note:**

> Talia and Rafael are twins. She's a wolf, he's human.  
> Peter and Kate are twins. He's a wolf, she's human. (Talia+Gerard)  
> Derek and Laura are twins. Both wolves. (Talia+Deucalion)  
> Stiles and Malia are twins. Malia is a coyote. (Peter+Claudia)  
> Chris' mother was a Calaveras.  
> \---  
> Please let me know if I need to tag anything.
> 
>  
> 
> [Tumblr](goddessofcruelty.tumblr.com)


End file.
